Sheriff removes ICE from jail in bid to retain Stonegarden money

Pima County Sheriff Mark Napier has removed federal officers from the county jail in an attempt to build trust and secure a federal Operation Stonegarden grant next year.

Allowing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to operate inside Pima County Adult Detention Complex has no connection to the federal grant, which was denied for the first time in September by the Pima County Board of Supervisors. But the issues were mentioned by community members when the board mulled accepting the grant.

Napier removed ICE from the county jail Oct. 12.

“And I hope it will show my willingness to engage in compromise,” he told the Green Valley News on Friday.

“I understand this was a major issue for many in our community and for several members of the board,” Napier said in a memo dated Oct. 16. “I am compromising my position on providing office space (to ICE) in the sincere hope that it builds a bridge of trust and reciprocal compromise.”